Who is Echad?

The Echad doctrine is first met in the Shema and finds its full unfolding in the High Priestly oness of the Godhead and the true disciplies in Yah’shua’s (Jesus’) High Priestly Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Central to our faith, and repeated by all Israelites throughout the centuries, is the sublime truth that Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, is echad:

"Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is echad (one)" (Dt.6:5).

When Yah’shua (Jesus) declared that He was "the way, the truth, and the life" He expressly identified Himself with Yahweh-Elohim in such a way that even the Pharisees (P’rushim) couldn’t misunderstand His claim to deity, and which is why they were aroused to anger and provoked to persecute Him. For in the Shema Yahweh is declared to be unique - there is absolutely no one like Him.

This word echad is, however, more than uniplurality and uniqueness, because it is also an acronym for the words emet (truth), chai’m (life) and derekh (way, path). Thus when Yah’shua (Jesus) declared that He was "the way, the truth, and the life" He was saying that He was echad! He was identifying Himself with the Elohim - with the God of Israel - with Yahweh-Elohim (Yahweh of the Elohim).

We are all aware that an inscription in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew was placed on top of Yah’shua’s (Jesus’) Cross by Pontius Pilate that made the Pharisees even more angry and which artists commonly abbreviate to ‘INRI’, the Latin initials. This is unfortunate because it distracts our attention from a great truth and mystery. In Latin the text reads: "Iesos Nazarenvs Rex Iudaorevm" (INRI - Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), and in Greek: "Hutos estin Iesis ho basileys ton Iudaion". Was it this that angered the Pharisees? I doubt it. Look, rather, at the initials of the words of the same text in Hebrew:

"Y'shua Hanotzri Vemelekh Hayehudium" (YHVH)

And there is not a single one amongst you who does not recognise who or what YHVH (YHWH) is: Yahweh! The Name of our Heavenly Father in whose Name Messiah (Christ) came as YAH’shua (Yah-weh’shua), meaning ‘Yah(weh) saves’. Can we understand now why the Pharisees objected so strongly to the signpost? They demanded of the Romans that they write that He only claimed to be the Son of Elohim (God)! And yet there the signpost declared before the whole world that Yah’shua was Yahweh! His deity was proclaimed for everyone to see.

You will no doubt by now be wondering about other acronyms, for they are very common in Hebrew. As is well known amongst the Hebrews the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) contains a secret: (Asher) Haya V'Hove V'Yavo, which translates into English, "He who is, who was, and who is to come", the very same thing that Paul said of Yah'shua (Jesus) in Hebrews 13:8: "He is the same yesterday, today, and forever".

Yes, Yah’shua (Jesus) is Elohim (God) just as His Father, Yahweh, is Elohim (God) which, because He is the One High God (Eloah), is called ‘Yahweh-Elohim’. Therefore it is only right and proper that Yah’shua (Jesus) should be so precisely identified with Yahweh, for He is Yahweh-Elohim in the flesh. Hallelu-Yah!

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